Bergen, Norway-headquartered seafood firm Lerøy Seafood Group posted nearly 25 percent higher operational EBIT and 12 percent higher revenues in the first quarter of 2025 compared to the same period a year ago thanks to increased harvest totals and market demand.
Lerøy’s operational EBIT in the period totaled NOK 1.05 billion (USD 100.9 million, EUR 90.2 million), and revenues amounted to nearly NOK 8 billion (USD 768.5 million, EUR 687.1 million).
Delivering the seafood group’s Q1 2025 results on 15 May, CEO Henning Beltestad said the EBIT total was a “good performance.”
“There’s been a strong start to the year,” he said. “[There’s] strong demand in the end markets, positive development in emerging markets, strong positioning with strategic customers globally, and the effects of structural improvements really starting to work in our different operations. Our expectation is for a continued positive profitability trend in 2025. I feel that we have a really strong position in all our key markets and a team that's really focused on building the markets and the category for seafood.”
In the quarter, Lerøy’s Farming segment achieved revenues of more than NOK 3.2 billion (USD 307.3 million, EUR 274.8 million), which was up from NOK 2.5 billion (USD 240.1 million, EUR 214.6 million) in Q1 2024. Its operational EBIT was NOK 789 million (USD 75.8 million, EUR 67.7 million) versus NOK 576 million (USD 55.3 million, EUR 49.5 million) previously.
It harvested 38,243 metric tons (MT) during the quarter, marking an increase of 11,867 MT year over year.
The company cited improvements in genetics, roe and smolt quality, the use of shielding technology, and general process enhancements as key contributors to the improved performance.
“We have seen a clear improvement in biology starting to show in our harvest results. We have seen the highest-ever net production in the sea in a first quarter, reduced mortality, declining costs, and a higher superior share. We see these positive biological developments continuing into the second quarter, which is encouraging for cost and volume development in 2025,” Beltestad said.
Beltestad said this was an especially strong performance in a quarter marked by significantly lower spot prices as supply was up industry-wide, highlighting that the quarter’s spot price benchmark for salmon was NOK 19 (USD 1.82, EUR 1.63) per kilogram lower than in Q1 2024.
For the full year of 2025, Lerøy is estimating a total salmon and trout harvest volume of 211,000 MT, including production from its joint ventures. This comprises 200,000 MT from Norway, as well as a 16,000 MT share from joint venture Scottish Sea Farms.
“We believe if we continue the work with improvements as we do today, our target should be within reach,” Beltestad said. “Right now, we are in a good position for achieving our [Norwegian] goal of 200,000 MT.”
The firm’s Wild Catch segment reported Q1 2025 revenues of NOK 936 million (USD 89.9 million, EUR 80.4 million), which was NOK 21 million (USD 2 million, EUR 1.8 million) less than in Q1 2024. Its operational EBIT slipped NOK 39 million (USD 3.7 million, EUR 3.3 million) to NOK 148 million (USD 14.2 million, EUR 12.7 million). In total, 18,957 MT of fisheries products were caught in the quarter, versus 24,093 MT previously.
Beltestad conceded that with quotas further reduced this year, including a 32 percent reduction in total allowable catch for cod, 2025 will continue to be a challenging year for the segment. However, he also noted the prices for cod, haddock, and saithe in Q1 were up 35 percent, 107 percent, and 62 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, Lerøy’s VAP, Sales, and Distribution segment generated revenues of over NOK 7.5 billion (USD 720.3 million, EUR 643.9 million) and an operational EBIT of NOK 212 million (USD 20.4 million, EUR 18.2 million) in Q1, compared to NOK 6.6 billion (USD 633.9 million, EUR 566.6 million) and NOK 176 million (USD 16.9 million, EUR 15.1 million), respectively, in Q1 2024.
“We have operations in 70 countries and sales to more than 80 markets all over the world. [Thanks to] investments done over 20 years, we feel now that we really have a strong position in all the key markets for seafood,” Beltestad said. “The new thing in this segment is the branch offices in South Korea, in Vietnam, and in Thailand. The main reason for this is to take out the potential of these markets and to drive innovation and market development together with our partners. This is also crucial for our trout operations – that we create new markets for trout from Norway.”
